The war on Gaza cannot be understood without looking at events in the Arab world. For the first time, two clear axes have developed: one including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the other including Qatar and Turkey. In the past, Hamas relied on the dissident bloc represented by Iran, Syria and the Hezbollah in Lebanon, but the Arab Spring reshuffled the deck and created a new reality. The old regimes collapsed, states became arenas of civil war and crumbled, and new axes arose in which the Gulf States play a central role. The Arab Spring caused a split between Saudi Arabia and Qatar within the Gulf Cooperation Council. This is a fundamental disagreement over how to address the Arab Spring, and all attempts to bridge their differences have failed. Saudi Arabia was adamantly opposed to the uprising of January 25 which brought down Mubarak’s regime in Egypt, but Qatar supported the Muslim Brotherhood which took over the regime in democratic elections. The disagreement is over the best way to douse the fires of revolution among the Arab peoples who are demanding democracy, bread and freedom.

It is like a film rerun: less than two years have passed since Operation Pillar of Defense, we are in the middle of Operation Protective Edge, and once again Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promises quiet for years to come. Many people are asking what happened to the pillar that was supposed to ensure happiness and prosperity.

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the disintegration of the Iraqi army. There is no apparent connection between the two, but one man dreamt up a connection and made full use of it for his own political ends. That man was Israel’s imaginative prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.